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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Leaving On A Jet Plane

After a very scary morning with our consulate appointment, we are clear to leave China!!!

Our facilitator received a phone call, when we were ON OUR WAY TO THE CONSULATE, saying that the home study update that we supplied with our passport and visa application was not signed by our social worker and that they needed a signed copy! AAAHHHGGGHHHH! The US Consulate was suppose to review the paperwork yesterday and let us know if there were any issues so we would have time to rectify them before our "swearing in ceremony" this morning. Needless to say, the stress level was beyond measure! Our social worker is currently in Vietnam hosting a homeland tour and I have no way to contact her. I did not have any phone numbers or contact information with me for either or our agencies, because we were told not to take anything with us to the consulate except for the necessities for Willow. Since it is a government office, they do not allow any electronics, video or recording devices. All I had was a baggie with some diapers, wipes and a toy for her.

Once we got to the consulate we had to meet with the "Supervisor of Adoptions" to see what options we had. The first thing this man, Arturo Hines, said to us was "We are not going to hold you up for this". THANK GOD!!! All we ended up having to do was to sign and swear to an affidavit saying that we would fax a copy of the signed home study update when we return home. Can I just say...Mr. Arturo Hines...you are a SUPERHERO...MY SUPERHERO!!! I had visions of us being stuck in China, for who knows how long because of the holiday and because we are flying on frequent flyer tickets and who knows when we would be able to reschedule our flight.

So, all is good, and now we are leaving for the airport for our wrong way, marathon plane rides home. We leave Guangzhou at 8 PM for Beijing, from Beijing to Madrid, Madrid to Philadelphia and then to Phoenix. After all of those flights, we don't arrive in Phoenix until 9:35 PM January 1st. Crazy, I know...but after all we have been through for this adoption...why would the end be easy?! Let's just hope at this point that Willow is a "good flyer"!

Say a prayer for our safe travels...and we will see some of you soon!Gotta Go!